A Research Group of the International Association of Constitutional Law, dedicated to the study of Social Rights/
Un Groupe de Recherche de l’Association Internationale de Droit Constitutionnel portant sur l’étude des Droits Sociaux

Our Group

Our group has been founded on 9/12/2010 in the framework of the VIII Congress of IACL, on the common initiative of Victor Bazan and Sandra Liebenberg.

Its main aim is to develop a network and a forum for constitutionalists interested in social rights from countries throughout the world. Among its future activities will be, inter alia, the development of comparative research projects on topics to be decided collectively, advocacy and public Interest litigation on social rights issues and further involvement to related activities of IACL.

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Monday, November 12, 2012

Tentative Program of Rio's Conference "Constitutionalism and Economic Crisis: National and Transnational Economic Regulation and Social Rights in the 21st Century"

Constitutionalism and Economic Crisis: National and
Transnational

Economic Regulation and Social Rights

in the 21st Century

Rio de Janeiro – Brazil

14, 15 and 16 April – 2013

Constitutionnalisme et
crise économique: Réglementation économique

nationale et
transnationale

et droits sociaux au
21e siècle»

Rio de Janeiro - Brésil

14, 15 et 16 avril –
2013

Tentative Schedule and
Programme

(as at 31 October 2012)

Calendrier et Programme Provisoires

(au 31 octobre 2012)

SUNDAY 14 APRIL 2013

DIMANCHE 14 AVRIL 2013

Welcome
reception for invited participants (Dinner)

20:00

Réception de bienvenue
pour participants invités (dîner)

MONDAY 15 APRIL 2013

LUNDI 15 AVRIL 3013

IACL
Executive Committee meeting

08:30 -14:00

Réunion du Comité
exécutif de l'AIDC

Lunch

12:00 -14:00

Déjeuner

Panel 1

Economic Growth,

Sustainable Development

and Social Rights

in Constitutional Democracies”

This
panel will provide a descriptive and analytic foundation for the rest of the
conference. The focus of it is on the tensions between constitutions, as
providing a stable and just social order through the protection of social
rights, and the need for economic growth, especially in times of economic crisis,
in the overall context of a democratic political system. Issues to be addressed: the real challenges, in several countries,
of meeting commitments to social rights while responding to changing economic
conditions; the challenges of sustaining economic growth while securing
minimally adequate social support; the role of public opinion in a democratic
political system in framing these choices.
These analyses should focus also on measures undertaken in different countries
that appear to be forms of retrocession; as well as other approaches to
responding to economic crisis and duress, involving action at both national
or transnational levels. Judicial
interdiction of retrocession and constitutional amendments may be part of
this description, but the real focus on the role of the courts should perhaps
go in Panel 3.

This
panel is analyzing the concept of social state as a fundamental, structural
principle of the constitutional order and how it has been transformed after
its migration outside Europe. The presentations will focus on specific
constitutions framing of the social state and its constitutive elements. For instance, does it also include aspects
of human and ecological existence and if so, which ones? Are there different
conceptions of what is minimally necessary to be guaranteed in a constitution; how is the social state principle
made justiciable; whether, if it is
justiciable, it is justiciable as a
matter of substance or process; Which is the relation of the principle with
other constitutional principles or values, such as the protection of human
dignity?

This
panel’s focus is on the various methods and standards used for the
constitutional protection of social rights in “normal” periods and in periods
of crisis, when austerity measures apply. Issues to be examined are, for
instance, how the positive enforcement of social rights – e.g., by the Tutela
in Latina America, is compared to other approaches, e.g., the South Africa’s more administrative law
style review of the adequacy of an agency’s planning. Empirical inquiries into the actual
effects of judicial review on development, equality and the broader political
system will be an important aspect of this panel. The review of austerity
measures will also be examined, under various aspects, including, eventually,
judicial review of constitutional amendments, raising the question whether a
constitution’s social state commitment is unamendable., and if so, what are
the consequences for the role of the courts, for development and for the
broader political system? What are the
effects of adjudicating social rights on public opinion and what are the
constraints, or infuences of public opinion on the courts?

This
panel is focusing on the interplay between constitutional orders and the
emerging global economic regulation, promoted by agents as WTO, IMF or the EU. How does this regulation challenge domestic
constitutional orders? Are these
regimes operating as some form of global economic constitution? If so, what
is the normative evaluation of that global economic constitution? In the context of pressures from global
economic regimes, how does democratic public opinion within national states
affect constitutional systems’ abilities to mediate
between social and economic rights, on the one hand, and economic development or response to
financial crisis, on the other? Is the global economic
constitution singular or plural – that is, are there multiple normative
conceptions operating (are EU principles same as WTO)? And how should the
Constitutional and International Courts resolve eventual conflicts?